Control pedals are typically provided in a motor vehicle, such as an automobile, which are foot operated by the driver. Separate control pedals are provided for operating brakes and an engine throttle. When the motor vehicle has a manual transmission, a third control pedal is provided for operating a transmission clutch. A front seat of the motor vehicle is typically mounted on tracks so that the seat is forwardly and rearwardly adjustable along the tracks to a plurality of positions so that the driver can adjust the front seat to the most advantageous position for working the control pedals.
This adjustment method of moving the front seat along the tracks generally fills the need to accommodate drivers of various size, but it raises several concerns. First, this adjustment method still may not accommodate all drivers due to very wide differences in anatomical dimensions of drivers. Second, the position of the resulting seat may be uncomfortable for some drivers. Therefore, it is desirable to have an additional or alternate adjustment method to accommodate drivers of various size.
Many proposals have been made to selectively adjust the position of the control pedals relative to the steering wheel and the front seat in order to accommodate drivers of various size. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,632,183, 5,697,260, 5,722,302, 5,819,593, 5,937,707, and 5,964,125, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein in their entirety by reference, each disclose an adjustable control pedal assembly. The control pedal assembly includes a hollow guide tube, a rotatable screw shaft co-axially extending within the guide tube, a nut in threaded engagement with the screw shaft and slidable within the guide tube, and a control pedal rigidly connected to the nut. The control pedal is moved forward and rearward when an electric motor rotates the screw shaft to translate the nut along the screw shaft within the guide tube. While this control pedal assembly may adequately adjust the position of the control pedal to accommodate drivers of various size, this control pedal utilizes relatively high tolerance parts and as a result may be expensive to produce and unreliable over time. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved adjustable control pedal assembly which selectively adjusts the position of the pedal to accommodate drivers of various size.